Watch The First Official Teaser For Tony Jaa's TOM YUM GOONG 2 (Now With English Subtitles)

I have long had a very simple principle when watching films with action choreography by Panna Rittikrai: Watch out for motorcycles. Because whenever motorcycles appear something crazy is about to happen. And by crazy I mean someone may very well die. This is a principle that extends back well beyond his work on Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong into his very earliest efforts and, yes, there are a LOT of motorcycles in the first trailer for Tom Yum Goong 2.

The sales promo for the reunion between Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew and star Tony Jaa leaked online some time back in a very grotty, low resolution version but given the quality issues with that video and the fact that sales promos almost always include unfinished footage (as this one did) we didn't mention it on ScreenAnarchy at all. But now the official first trailer has arrived and it's looking good. Yes, there are shots here that clearly show the use of CGI and wire assists for the first time in a Jaa film but there are also some absolutely jaw dropping, all natural stunts included and if the film can live up to the general quality of this trailer I'd say fans will be more than willing to overlook the outside assists and long delays in production. Check it out below.

Between this and SPECIAL ID, good to have some bonafide Martial Arts film events on the horizon. It seems a drought has just ended.

Ty Cobb
•
July 26, 2013 12:43 PM

Principle

Sunwukong88
•
July 26, 2013 1:37 PM

It's missing some elephants in the teaser.

maikel
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July 26, 2013 3:04 PM

idk too much bad cgi

ricksomchai
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July 26, 2013 4:57 PM

face it Jet Li, Donnie Yen and end the master of stunts Jackie Chan use FX and no one says anything... Tony Jaa does is and people start crying about it lol looks good IMO seen some other footage as well you know they had a Hollywood team come in to do the CGI the fight with Jaa and Crump is going to be great for sure and it still has a lot of stunts Im all over this!

tman418
•
July 26, 2013 7:10 PM

"This Time

The Fight

get Beyond"

Eh...it's not as bad as certain English-language signs in Japan.

Steve Austin
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July 26, 2013 8:14 PM

Well I wouldn't know if it was any good because the stupid ads kept appearing on top of the trailer.

lumumba
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July 26, 2013 8:20 PM

please people stop stealing the elephant of this dude.

Todd Brown
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July 26, 2013 8:44 PM

Actually, people had quite a lot to say about it when Jackie Chan started using VFX in his films and it's not at all hard to demonstrate that his popularity began to slip around the world as he increasingly did so. It's not purely the VFX's fault, but the increasing use of digital tech in Chan's films coincides directly with the decreasing quality and fan satisfaction. And there's a very simple reason for that. Two of 'em actually.

One, movie stars are - on a very level - a commodity. A brand. And like any brand they have a particular identity that is fostered and sold to the audience as what makes them distinct and somehow 'better' than all competing brands. In the case of both Chan and Jaa their brands have been built to a VERY large degree on the base of "We really do this stuff, if you see it on screen it's because someone really did it." That's what adds that extra bit of thrill to their work, because their really laying their bodies on the line. So when you step away from that and start using the VFX technology that you very loudly and proudly spent years dogging as only for use by other people but not for you, then you are actively working against your own brand. You make yourself into just one of the masses, stripped of the factor that made your work unique.

Two, stripping yourself of your brand uniqueness hits you on two fronts beyond simply having to backtrack from your previous identity. First, in these cases, by driving your stunt work by VFX as much as physical skill you've just essentially made yourself into any other actor. If there's nothing different about the way The Myth, say, or TYG2 executes its stunt work than the way The Matrix does, or one of the Marvel films, then the martial arts guys are going to start to be judged on level ground, in all aspects, next to the actors that star in those other films. Actors who - by and large - are hired at least partially on their ability to act. Why did Jackie start getting hammered for his acting performances in this period when nobody had cared before? This is why. The same thing is about to ramp up for Tony. It's inevitable.

Also, if you are driving your stunt work with VFX then you are, inevitably, going to have that VFX work compared to the absolute high end of Hollywood VFX work. There's no avoiding it. You've added the attention to the VFX yourself by publicly speaking against it for so long and so people are going to be paying special attention and there is not a single film industry anywhere in the world that can compete with Hollywood on that level. None. You're always going to be found lacking.

Does this mean that TYG2 can't be a good film or that there aren't people out there that will enjoy it? No. But it does mean, inevitably, that it will alienate a certain percentage of core fanbase by the simply fact that its gone off the established Jaa 'Real Fight' brand, and it will - also inevitably - face tighter scrutiny and criticism on both the acting and the technical side of the film than Jaa has ever faced before. It's already happening in a lot of places if you go out and look at the comment threads and its only going to get worse as some of the more overt CG sequences are seen.

Werther's Aboriginal
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July 27, 2013 6:24 PM

Uh oh, better watch what you say around here. Or else the teacher will spank you and give a looooooooooooong lecture.

jah p
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July 27, 2013 7:35 PM

I didn't see too much martial arts action in this trailer, mostly car stunts..I'll wait for a more full trailer later...

Zaike Airey
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July 27, 2013 11:23 PM

oh no somebody showed tony jaa how to work after effects!

Todd Brown
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July 28, 2013 11:46 AM

Oh, no! Someone in a discussion forum actually has an opinion based in fact that they're able to lay out logically! Run for the hills!

RawBeard
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July 29, 2013 6:06 PM

... woah! I 100% agree and you totally wrote out my exact thoughts on this, except you did it with better spelling and less grammatical errors than I would have. :)

I've got my fingers crossed for Tom Yum Goong 2 (please don't be another Ong Bak 2&3) but I am concerned about the use of VFX and Wire Work.